Understanding South Africa’s reliance on foreign labour, and the way forward

SOUTH Africa's labour market faces a difficult contradiction: unemployment is high, yet many businesses can’t find the skilled workers they need.

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This is especially true in sectors like logistics and construction, where foreign labour is often used to fill urgent gaps. While this approach helps keep operations running, it often raises concerns that jobs are being taken away from South Africans.

But framing the issue as a choice between local and foreign labour doesn't capture the complexity of the problem. What's needed is a practical, balanced approach - one that meets immediate business needs while supporting long-term local skills development.

Temporary Employment Services (TES) providers can help businesses strike this balance by handling legal compliance, ensuring fair hiring, and supporting programmes that transfer skills from foreign to local workers.

Skills shortages vs. employment needs

In many sectors, particularly construction, infrastructure, and logistics, demand for specialised, high-risk or niche skills far outpaces local availability. These shortages are often compounded by the need for flexibility in project-based or high-turnover roles - demands that foreign labour is sometimes better positioned to meet quickly.

Foreign workers can also bring specialist expertise not yet widely available in the local talent pool. In these cases, such professionals serve not just as short-term resources but also as potential mentors and catalysts for local upskilling.